Describe how a Christian may follow the call to discipleship through daily life and work.

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Daniel Cognolato 3rd May 2003

Y10 R.E. Vocation Coursework

Ai. Describe how a Christian may follow the call to discipleship through daily life and work.

Aii. Explain why some Christians join communities and take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience?

Aiii. Explain the purpose and practice of ONE particular religious community.

B. “Christians should lead active rather than contemplative lives.” Give reasons for your answer, showing that you have considered different points of view.

To be able to identify how a Christian may follow the call to discipleship we must identify the significance of this ‘call’. As Christians we believe this call to discipleship is a ‘vocation’. Vocation comes from the Latin word meaning ‘calling’. Christians believe that they all have a calling and this calling derives from God to be followers of Jesus Christ, to be members of the Holy Church and to make their sacred pilgrimage on earth.

As we can recall from the Old Testament, God to make his intentions known, speaks directly to the people who he wants to contact, i.e. Moses and the burning bush. However, God also makes his intentions known to mankind through events that are documented by history and natural phenomena. He also speaks to people indirectly through their experiences of life.

As detailed in the Gospels, Jesus’ vocation arrived when he was baptised by John the Baptist. He heard God’s voice calling to him as his Son. He then received the power of the Holy Spirit and began his public ministry to give up his life to serve the Lord and to help all of God’s flock. This was Jesus’ calling, and this particular calling is an extraordinary event, which highlights how extremely different individual vocations can be compared to the present era from two thousand years ago.

Jesus in turn called his disciples who were to join him in the proclamation of the Gospel and to establish God’s Kingdom.

Of course when Jesus called his disciples two thousand years ago, there were certain qualities expected of them, which will differ dramatically to the qualities expected in the modern era. The first disciples, Simon, Andrew, James and John had to be extremely brave and trusting and follow Jesus with irrational obedience, something, which nowadays would not happen because people are not either as imprudent or as gullible as the disciples Jesus chose.

A disciple can be defined as someone who follows a teacher and learns from him/her. Many people were very sceptical about why Jesus chose those people to be his disciples, when he was walking along Lake Galilee. This was known as ‘The Commission’.

It is believed that there are three types of vocation to pursue for the modern day disciple. A person may be called to celibacy and the religious life or marriage and parenthood. Vocation can also be achieved through employment, especially if it gives the person the opportunity to show and share God’s love in other people’s lives. The laity would pursue these types of vocation. They must try to apply their faith to their everyday lives in all their actions, whether it be almsgiving or going to Church. They must also teach what they know to others who are less knowledgeable and they must defend their faith when others question and doubt it. Another vocation is to join religious orders or become part of the congregation, for example, become a nun or monk, sister or brother. Finally a person can become part of the ordained clergy as a priest or bishop. These people would undergo Holy Orders and live their lives in service to God. A bishop has the task of overseeing a diocese and makes sure that all religious issues are resolved within the diocese to keep faith within the community. Whilst priests have the responsibility to take charge of a parish and they will carry out many religious services, with the aim to make sure there is a healthy Christian bond within the parish. Whichever way no vocation is less important than any other and everyone has differing talents so they must put these talents to fruition. Vocation has nothing to do with the pursuit of money or fame but it is measured by how much someone gives to fulfil his or her vocation. However to pursue one’s vocation it takes love, compassion and dutiful service to be able complete their task and all other superficial items must be forgotten about and the true reward for paying the cost of discipleship will be shared in the Kingdom of Heaven with Jesus.

However, we must be prepared to endure many social stigmas to be able to achieve their goal. Vocations such R.E. teachers, modern day evangelisers and volunteers are always under appreciated and looked down upon as having meaningless jobs. To be able to fulfil this task they must also have faith, to apply and defend the teachings of Christ. They must be obedient, especially when a vocation requires a ‘leap of faith’. They must be humble, even though we live in a world where humility is frowned upon and seen as weak and they must make sacrifices, whether this might be ...

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However, the call to vocation can be looked at in two different separate ways. One is to lead a contemplative life. Contemplation can be described as a state of mind focused on God. A person who is contemplative is a person who seeks to live with permanent awareness of God’s presence. It is the vocation of a monk or nun to be contemplative. Contemplation requires a person to completely separated from the everyday world and a person needs to be fully committed to prayer, this means living in an enclosure. To do this monks must join communities to lead monastic lives and so that they can become as perfect as possible and leave behind all worldly possessions and to forget about the stresses of every day life.

Contemplatives read and meditate on the scriptures to be able to comprehend God’s will and so that they can experience his love in their lives. They speak to God when they pray but their words are much less meaningful than what God answers back. If we take St. John of the Cross-as an example, he told how his contemplative experience was extremely painful. People may feel abandoned by God like Jesus was on the Cross and so they may begin to believe that God does not exist or even that he does not care about human beings. However contemplation enables a person to experience all the sorrows of life but also all of the joys of life. The other way of fulfilling a vocation is to lead an active life. Even though monks and nuns are extremely revered for their dedication and even though a monastic community is a group of these individuals trying to pursue a spiritual journey, which they show God’s love and compassion by praying for their needs of the world, usually even the most traditional religious communities give some sought of active service. Famous examples of these can be associated to Benedictine monks who provide education in their schools and Mother Theresa who combined active and contemplative lives together. All Christians must find a balance of the two in their lives, as all of us are disciples who become apostles through spiritual learning, and we must serve the world.

There are three evangelical counsels to be taken. The first is to take a vow of poverty. Poverty is the situation of being poor. They do this because a person must give up all their earthly possessions to be able to find treasure in Heaven. They do this to show complete trust in God and so that they can become sensitive to the needs of the poor. Jesus was very poor and never demanded or sought riches. Jesus also told the disciples when he sent them out to be apostles, to carry no riches and no spare clothes. Monk and nuns possess nothing of their own and everything belongs to the community. The second counsel is a vow of chastity. Chastity is sexual purity. Monks and nuns take a vow of chastity so that they can dedicate themselves completely to the Gospel and not be worried about familial problems just like Jesus, who never had sexual relations, so he could be closer to God. Also in Heaven no one is married to anybody so this is how Jesus chose to live on earth. Monks and nuns may have no sex life at all. We can example from Paul’s letters to the Romans as he stated that we should no give in to our sinful desires.

Thirdly is the vow obedience. Obedience is the willingness to obey, which allows a community to be united in the service of God and other people. They take this counsel because they must show complete obedience toward God, just as Jesus did when suffered in his death to fulfil God’s will, as it also states in proverbs, that a nation without obedience toward God is a nation without order.

One particular religious community that I believe affirms the concept of vocation is Taizé. It is a mix between an active and contemplative community. The founder of Taizé was Brother Roger. During long terms fighting illness he received a call to create a community where simplicity and kind-heartedness would dominate proceedings and where a life of these qualities could be essential Gospel realities.

He chose to settle in this small Burgundy village so that he could help war refugees evade capture, many of whom were Jewish. Thanks to a small loan Brother Roger set up this refuge for all those who sought it and in 1940 formed the Taizé community, which has endured ever since. Brother Roger dreamed of being able to help people in every spiritual and physical way possible and he welcomed everybody who wished to join him.

Brother Roger led a life of minimalism and prayer, largely thanks to the fact that the buildings where the refuge was constructed contained hardly any amenities associated with ordinary lifestyle. Today the community must live off its own farm and it has to sell its own products made by the residents to survive, as it does not rely on any other sources for funding.

Later on in 1949, the first brothers committed themselves for their whole life to celibacy, to material and spiritual sharing and to great simplicity of life. Today, the Taizé community is made up of over a hundred brothers, coming from twenty-five different nations and various Protestant and Catholic backgrounds. The sole existence of the community integrates the sign of reconciliation between divided Christians and separated peoples. The Brothers who now live there do not accept material possessions or donations for their own personal inheritances, they are directly given by the community to the poor. Already in the 1950s, brothers went to live in disadvantaged places to be with people who were suffering from poverty or divisions. Today, small groups of brothers are present in Asia, Africa and South America. As far as possible they share the living conditions of those who surround them, striving to be a presence of love among the very poor, street children, prisoners, the dying, and those who are wounded in their depths by broken relationships, by being abandoned. Church leaders also come to Taizé. The community has welcomed Pope John Paul II, three Archbishops of Canterbury, Orthodox metropolitans, the fourteen Lutheran bishops of Sweden, and countless pastors from all over the world.

Every week from early spring to late autumn, young adults from different continents arrive on the hill of Taizé. They are searching for meaning in their lives, in communion with many others. By going to the wellsprings of trust in God, they set out on an inner pilgrimage that encourages them to build relationships of trust among human beings. Some weeks in the summer months, more than five thousand young people from seventy-five different countries take part in a common pilgrimage, and this voyage continues when they return home. It is expressed in their concern to deepen an inner life and by their readiness to take on responsibilities in order to make the world a better place to live in. Taizé aims to improve young people in their spiritualistic beliefs and their views about how to follow their calling from God.

Every day the Brothers give Bible readings that are followed by times of reflection and periods where the people can discuss open topics chosen by them, such as when the bell rings for prayer and all daily routines must be stopped to carry out periods of intercession. For the community prayer and worship is fundamental to be able to build a solid spiritual relationship and to reflect upon all the gifts that have been given to them by God. It also helps bring the pilgrims to grow in faith and to remain in solidarity with other pilgrims. They may also spend the week in silence which lets the Gospel illuminate a person’s life into further understanding and greater profundity. However as Brother Roger said: “Silence is not the goal, to pray and to come closer to God is the goal. Silence is just a way”. In the afternoon, groups devoted to specific topics allow people to make the connection between the wellsprings of the faith and the pluralistic reality of contemporary society. A week in Taizé is a way of realising the intimate relationship between an experience of communion with God in prayer and personal reflection on the one hand, and an experience of communion and solidarity among peoples on the other.

Many people make a pilgrimage of trust to Taizé because they feel like they need to pray together in a simple, meditative way, with a period of silence, using the songs written for Taizé, translated in various languages. It is a complete relief in the midst of their busy every day lives, thus the pilgrimage is a way of bringing people together in a multitude of ways.

In my personal belief I agree with this statement and I consider the active life the correct life to pursue. This is not to say that my decision is correct but I shall attempt to justify it with points of view from both sides.

As followers of Jesus’ flock we become all his disciples and therefore once we have become spiritually educated then we become apostles and more specifically we all ascertain a mission to do as Jesus told us. Jesus gave the disciples the power to drive away evil spirits and to heal the sick so that they could go out use their gifts to help those who needed help. This completely affirms how, even though today we have no special powers we must still go out and use our gifts actively to help others. This can be done in any numerous ways as discussed before in types of vocation. The Commission and its defined message reinforce this.

The most obvious example of all is Jesus’ exemplary life. We cannot expect to become exactly like Jesus, but it is our duty to try to become like him. His life was full of altruistic work as he gave up every kind of material possession and social interest to lead an active life to help everyone. He dedicated his existence to preaching God’s law and teaching people how to respect it. He cast out demons and resisted all kinds of temptation to be able to lead the life he did. He healed the sick and also raised the dead, not for acclaim or self-gratification but because he had a genuine love for all of God’s creations. He never relented in his quest to help others even though he received so much abuse and social stigma, yet this never fazed him. He could have simply just lead a contemplative life and never have been troubled by anyone but then this was not the reason God called him. Having not chosen to lead an active life then I question whether Jesus would have suffered his passion on the Cross and whether mankind would have ever been reprieved of its sins and consequently the gates of Heaven would not have been opened. Therefore Jesus’ mission is considered mostly active and that is the example we should follow. The vocation that we chose to take on must be evangelised and so it cannot be pursued contemplatively.

However, when we talk about Christianity we do not just talk about it as a religion but as a way of leading our lives through every day experience and our actions are manifested in a way to show that all aspect of our life are affected by Christianity. This means that our actions in every day life should be conditioned by our intent to do good in God’s name, not just when we attend Church or when we pray but also when we help others and aid those less fortunate.

We must remember that when judgement day arrives we shall all be judged by our actions and those who have led a life with just cause, who have clothed, fed and watered those who are less fortunate sons and daughters of God will ascend to the right hand side of the Father. (The parable of the sheep and goats). Those who lead a secluded life in an enclosure cannot help those less fortunate and therefore cannot be counted for as sheep. Perhaps it is because they are afraid of the outside world and they would prefer to ignore the problems that engulf it, instead of helping to make it a better place. This then can be considered as a selfish act, without sparing a thought for anybody else, whilst leading a life tucked away in complete peace and no heavy conscience.

Let us not forget that part of the greatest commandment is to love thy neighbour as you love yourself. This cannot be achieved if closed off away from the rest of the world.

However there are various reasons why this can be argued against, starting with the epitome of them all. The first and most important part of The Greatest Commandment is to love God with all your heart. This is the sole reason why people lead contemplative lives, and so this commandment is being respected fully. Love is the most important emotion a Christian can feel and love for thy God is therefore beyond any other love felt for any other person. This is why becoming close to God is essential for all Christians and this can be obtained if completely dedicated to God. It helps to understand a person’s purpose in life. The issue that prayer is work can also be sustained by spiritual figures such as St. Benedict. He said that a life of prayer is essential for redemption of our sins. We must pray to God alone, away from others and not with long structured prayers but with truthfully spoken words that God will definitely hear and therefore acknowledge our words as true. (Sermon on the Mount)

Even Jesus often took time out to pray to the Lord when in times of need or doubt and wished to be alone. This outlined his need to be in contact with God as displayed before he was to die, when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.

We may take example from when Jesus visited Martha. She complained that her sister Mary did not help her in her housework and all she did was to listen to the teachings of the Lord. Jesus said that Mary’s example was better than Martha’s and this emphasises the point of contemplative status rather than active status. Let us not forget that contemplative orders can also do important Christian work such as offering intercessions, retreats, counselling and manufacturing goods, which displays how they can also be involved in active work.

Finally it is also true how an active life can lead to becoming enveloped by material possessions and abuses of the body, which can mislead a person away from the good cause. These temptations can be avoided when secluded away from the outside world, as they matter little when dedicated to God.

In conclusion I am inclined to say that an active life is the better way of life. I judge this mainly on Jesus’ actions throughout his life, but a balance must be obtained between the two types of life and if this can be achieved then we can all aim to be better Christians.